Golf-practicing apparatus.



Patented July 4, |899.`

J. G. WARREN?-` GOLF PR-ACTJCING APPARATUS.

(Application led Apr. 26, 189B.:

' v1*3 Sheets-Sheet I.

(No Model.)

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No. 628,236. Patented .luly 4, |899. J. G. WARREN. GOLF PRACTIUNGAPPARATUS.

(Application med Apne, 1895.

3 Sheets--Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

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No. 628,236. Patented July. 4, |899. J. (.v WARREN.

GULF PBAGTIGINB APPARATUS.

(Applicatiun' lod Apr. 28, 1896.)

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

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1NIIED STATES PATENT FFICR.

JOHN GRANT WARREN, OF GRAVESEND, ENGLAND.

GOLF-PRACTICING APPARATUS.

SPEGIFICATIONforniir'g part of Letters Patent No. 628,236, dated July 4, 1899.

Aptucauon tied April 26, 1898` To a/ZZ whom t ntay concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN GRANT WARREN, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, and a resident of Gravesend, county of Kent, England, have invented certain new and useful Improved Golf-Practicing Apparatus, (for which I have filed an application for British patent, No. 2,178, dated January 27, 1898,) of which the following is a specication.

This invention relates to apparatus to be employed in practicing the strokes of the game of golf, and is especially suitable for practicing driving or brassystrokes'or for iron-play with a teed ball.

The apparatus is designed to be of benefit both to beginners in learning the strokes and in qualifying themselves to play with skill and to those accustomed to the game in perfecting themselves in the trueness and energy with which they swing their clubs and deliver the strokes thereof on the ball and on which the trueness and extent of the flight of the ball are dependent and is of particular advantage in enabling any desired repetition of any desired stroke to be made without necessitating that the player should move from his position, so that he may accustom himself to any given position in relation to the ball to eifect any given stroke and also in serving to indicate the direction of the stroke, whether straight ahead or sliced or pulled -th'at is to say, driven outward 'to the. right orinward to the left(so enabling` the player to correct any natural tendency he may have toy slice or pull the ball) and also the range or. distance to which the ball, if free, would have been driven, so enabling the player to regulate the force with which he strikes the ball to propel the same any given distance In the apparatus a tee or practice board, upon which the'player stands or may stand, is adapted with a golf-ball so applied as that it may be set or may be replaced by other balls at different elevations above the tee-board, respectively, suitable for driving or for brassy strokes or level therewith in position suitable for iron-play and as that when struck by the ,club it will be caused by the impact of the blow to descend below the tee-board out of the path of and without interrupting the swing of the club and will then operate means by semi No. 678,841. (No model.)

which the direction of the stroke-,if not straight ahead, will be audibly indicated, and other means by which the range 0r distance the ball would, if free, have attained due to the impetus given by the blow of the club will be visibly indicated and will then be automatically and immediately returned to its normal position above the tee-board in readiness for another stroke of the club, so that following strokes may be made as quickly after one another as the player may wish.

On the accompanying drawings, Figure l represents a plan view of the apparatus, showing in dotted lines the incased parts in their normal position in readiness for a stroke. Fig. 2 represents a vertical section through A B, Fig. l. Fig. 3 represents a like section through C D, Fig. l. Fig. 4 represents alike View to Fig. l, showing the position of the parts immediately after a stroke straight ahead. Fig. 5 represents a vertical section through EF, Fig. 4. Fig. 6 represents a horizontal section through GH, Fig. 5, but shows the position of the parts immediately after a pulled stroke. Y

a is the tee or practice board, which is made as a casing adapted to contain and support the several parts of the apparatus and to be inserted into a suitable recess made in the flooring in the grass or wherever else the ap- 'paratus is required. to be used.

b is the practice-ball to be struck by the golf-club. To enable the ball to receive rightahead or forward and also laterally-deviating movements, it is mounted on a ball-joint havinga spherical center b', having two opposite segments b2, respectively adaptedito engage with two opposite parti-spherical bearings c, which are located by blocks c', cast with the tee-casing a, and by set-pins c' and screws c2, or may be located in any other convenient manner. The segment of the spherical center b', intermediate of the segments b2, is cut away, as at b3, and is fitted with a roller b4, which is mounted on a pin b5 and iits snugly between said segments,- projecting sufficiently beyond the same to engage with the edges c3 of the bearings c and to act therewith as a guide to the center bl and to prevent any rotation of the latter about the axis of its stem be, on which the ball b is mounted. The aforesaid lateral movements of the ball,

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together with the ball siem and center b', are, however, provided for the gradual widening apart, as at c4, of the edges c3 of the bearings c within the range of movement of the ballstem b, (Vide Fig. (5.) The rollers b4 thus partakes of all movements of the center b', and in its return movement guides the latter back to its normal position, so that the blow of the club is always delivered on the same part of the ball.

The ball is connected to the ball-stem by being cast with a screw-threaded socket b7, into which the screwed end of the stem is inserted; but the ball maybe otherwise connected to the stem in any convenient manner. Its elevation in relation to the tee may be altered by screwing the ball up or down the hall-stem or by fitting to the siem other balls having projecting screw-threaded bosses of different lengths.

The roller b4 is fitted with a bell-ham mer bs and is connected to a spring b9, which tends to retain the ball b in its normal position. l

(Vide Fig. The hammer bs in its normal position lies intermediate of and equidistant from a pair of elliptical bells cl, which are of the same external dimensions` but are ofdifferent thicknesses and serve to give two dis, tinguishing sounds, respectively, adapted to indicate whether the ball has been struck with a pulling or with aslicing stroke. The bells are located by studs d', screwing into the tee-casing ct and nuts d2, or may be located by any other convenient means. They are made of an elliptical form, so thata beginner may set them both with their minor axes in alinement, (bide Fig. 6,) so that there will then be the greatest space between them, as he probably will more often slice or pull a ball than drive it right ahead, and so that as he perfects his stroke he may set the bells with the major axes more and more in alinement (vide Fig. l) until practice and the indications which the respective bells aiord him enable him to perfect his stroke, when the bell-hammer will at each actuation clear the two bells.

The spring b9 should be only of just suliicient strength to retain the ball b in its normal position, so as not to offer any appreciable resistance or impediment to the swing of the club, it being an especial object of the apparatus to reproduce the conditions of actual play as completely as possible. To this end the ball when struck by the club meets with no appreciable resistance until it has wholly descended below the level of the teeboard. (Vide thedottedlines,Fig. 5.) Thereupon the ball connections immediately meet with the resistance 'of the means by which the force of the blow (expressed in terms of the distance which the ball, if free, would have been driven by the blow) is registered and of the means by which the ball and its connections and such registering means are immediately after the passing of the club returned to. their normal positions, the range-indicator alone maintaining its position for subsequent inspection and requiring to be reset by hand or otherwise in any convenient manner. To this end there is mounted in the tee-casing a a cradle e, adapted to reciprocate about end bearings e', mounted in the casing sides. The cradle is formed with end disks c2 and a connecting cross-piece e3 and with rubber-covered stops c4, adapted to bear against the under side of the casing-top, and is connected to springs e5, which tend to maintain the cradle in its normal position. (Vide Fig. 2.) Upon the ball being struck by the club its stem at the moment the top of the ball descends below the board comes into contact with the cradle cross-piece c3 with the effect of turningthe cradle about its axis of movement to an extent determined by the force of the blow of the club on the ball and by the resistance of the springs c5. One ofthe end bosses of the cradle is formed with a projection c, which extends through an aperture a2 in the tee-casing ct, and when the cradle e is thus actuated serves to actuate a pointer f, so as to cause the latter to indicate on a scale f the range of the ball due to the blow of the club.

The pointer fis mounted on a center pin f2, which is held down by a spring f3, so arranged as to cause a sufficient friction between the pointer and the dial-plate or its center pin to prevent the pointer from receiving any motion except when positively moved by the actuating projection e6 or by hand in being reset. p

The top oi" the case a is covered bya thick pad d3, of rubber, serving to oler a yielding resistance should the club be swung into forcible contact therewith, `that part of the teecasing and of the rubber pad through which the ball descends being made open, as at ce, and covered by a thin rubber membrane a5, serving to close the opening and to yield and descend with the ball without oering any material resistance thereto and to immediately return to its normal position as the ball is returned to its position.

I claim as my inventionl. In golf-practice apparatus the combination of a tee or practice board having a covered cavity below its level in advance of the normal position of the ball to be struck, a practice-ball adjustably mounted in relation to its distance from the tee, and so mounted in relation to its center of movement as to be adapted to receive both right-ahead and laterally-deviating movements according to the direction of the blow of the club by which it is struck, and as to be caused whenstruck by the club to descend into the cavity below the level of the tee and out of the path of the club,opposite parti-spherical bearin gs applied to the practice-board and adapted to locate the ball-center and to permit of the practice ball receiving both right-ahead and laterallydeviating movements, a spring controlled roller fitted with a bell-hammer and pivotally mounted in the ball-center and serving to IOO IIO

cause the bellhammer to audibly indicate laterally-deviating movements of the practiceball and to cause the ball to returnl to its normal position and' to retain the ball therein y the pointer and operating to automatically return the ball to the normal position. y

2. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination of a ball movable forward and laterally, a spring normally holding the ball in position but adapted to yield toallow forward and lateral movements of the ball, means for indicating the extent of forward movement-,and means for indicating lateral deiiection of said ball.

3. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination of a practice-board, a ball, a stem therefor supporting the ball above the board, extending below said board, a ball-joint therefor below said board, a spring normally holding the ball-stem upright but allowing free movement of the ball, and springs e5 resisting movement of the ball after it has partly moved forward.

4. In an apparatus of the character degscribed, the combination of a practice-board,

a ball, a stem therefor supporting the ball above the board, ext-ending below said board, a ball-joint therefor below said board, a spring normally holding the ball-stem upright but allowing free movement of the ball, a cradle e, springs e5 resisting movement of the cradle and of the ball after it has partly moved for ward.

5. Thecombination of a practice-board, a practice-ball movable forward and laterally, a stem extending above the board and supporting the ball, a pointer for indicating extent of forward movement, and bells for show ing lateral deflection. y

6. The combination with a practice-ball movable forward and laterally, a spring resisting movement of the ball, a bell-hammer operated bylateral movements, and bells in the path of the hammer.

7. The combination with a practice-ball movable forward and laterally, elliptical adjustable bells, a spring resisting movement of the ball, a bell-hammer operated bylateral movements, said bells being in the path of the hammer.

8. The combination of a practice-board with an opening in its top, a practice-ball b, stem be, anda rubber membrane cclosing the opening but yielding before the ball.

9. The combination of a practice-board with an opening in its top, a practice-ball h, stem be, and yielding pad a3.

10. The combination of a practiceboard, ball b stem h6, spherical segments b2, b2 connected as at band separated by a central removed segment, roller b4, hammer bs and'bells in reach of the hammer.

Signed atLondon, England, this 12thday of April, 1898.

JOHN GRANT WARREN.

Vitnesses:

CHARLES AUBREYy DAY, ALFRED CHARLES DAY. 

